A federal judge in Florida has denied the Justice Department’s request that grand jury transcripts from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein be made public, hindering President Donald Trump’s efforts to tamp down criticism from his base about not releasing more files from the late financier’s sex-trafficking case.U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg determined Monday that the request did not fall under any of the exceptions to requirements that grand jury material remain sealed. Grand jury transcripts are highly shielded to protect victims and witnesses, and it’s rare for a judge to make them public.Despite that unlikelihood, Attorney General Pam Bondi made the request with the court last Friday. In her motion, she defended the Justice Department’s decision earlier this month not to release any more files but acknowledged there remains “extensive public interest” in how the Trump administration reached that conclusion. Releasing grand jury transcripts, the motion argued, could help address that.Rosenberg rejected that.“The request to unseal arises from the Government’s internal investigation, from its public statements about that investigation, and from great public interest in the investigation, but it does not arise from the [proceedings] themselves,” she wrote.Bondi’s argument that “special circumstances exist,” Rosenberg wrote, does not allow the court to make a new kind of exception. Even the request for the transcripts “conceded that the Court’s hands are tied,” she continued.In a TruthSocial post after his Justice Department filed the request, Trump characterized it as something his opponents were pestering him about ― even though his own base, which remains highly interested in the Epstein files and connected conspiracy theories, was similarly frustrated with his about-face on the files.“I have asked the Justice Department to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval,” he wrote. “With that being said, and even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more. MAGA!”Close